All of that I wanted to change before my life gets flipped upside-down in a few months, and fortunately I have a cousin who has lots of experience in all those things, and is apparently dumb enough to trust me with them, even knowing how little experience I had.

Even more fortunate, his trust proved well founded, we had an amazing and successful trip, and I only truly thought I might die for less than an hour, when I got temporarily trapped on the scree-talus-morain-landslide hell between Alice and Temple on the descent after dark when I tried to go to retrieve our ice axes.

Now on to the goods!

Loading up before starting a four day diet of backpacking food.

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Since we were passing by we decided to add a fifth trad lead to my resume.

Hexentric, Columns of the Giants

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Acclimating on top of Fourth Buttress at Chipmunk Flat on the SPH. We spent a night up there to adjust (happily monster-free).

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We don't have to grow up anytime soon, do we?

Hehheh, that rock looks like a penis.

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Next day at the North Fork of the Big pine Trail head. Pack 'em up...

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...and move 'em out!

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Scenery's pretty good right out the gate.

North Fork of the Big Pine Trail

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Overall, a beautiful trail. I want to come back and enjoy it as a day hike someday (we were chuggin'!)

North Fork of the Big Pine Trail

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First peek of the peak!

Temple Crag from North Fork of the Big Pine Trail

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Game's suddenly feeling pretty real. Our camp was right by the small snowfield in the bottem left of the picture.

Can you spot my cousin?

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Even much-maligned Mt. Alice has moments of peaceful beauty. She wasn't ever quiet for long, though.

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Having a hard time getting to sleep, and it isn't because of how bright the moon is.

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Ready to go!

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Feeling like Ueli.

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Amazing 3rd/4th class approach. You get real high real quick.

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Sick, brah!

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View from about halfway up.

Second Lake and First Lake from Venusian Blind

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We had the entire mountain to ourselves, including Moon Goddess to our right...

Moon Goddess seen from Venusian Blind

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...and, not surprisingly, Jenga Arete to our left.

Eclipsed Arete, Temple Crag, from Venusian Blind

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The last hurdle before the summit ridge!

Last tower on Venusian Blind

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There aren't words to describe a view like this, and everything that goes with it.

view south from summit ridge of Temple Crag

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If anyone finds a red 5.10 Guide on Venusian Blind my cousin would love to get it back. Its strap broke somewhere on the second half of the route. Fortunately he's very ingenious, and his sleeping pad sandals carried him and his 60 lb. pack all the way back to the car.

This was a fun TR. Really appreciate the stoke & for sharing what was a new experience for yourself.

Sometimes I try to put a gauge or meter on it, but have come to realize that it's totally arbitrary to try & measure how great it really is to walk up into the high country & climb on top of a mountain.

If you are lucky enough to be in the mountains, well, you are lucky enough.

Wow! Thanks for all the kind words. Now I don't feel so bad that writing about it took almost as long as climbing it...

Did you take any leads? How did they go?

Yeah. We swapped leads, so I got plenty of time on the sharp end. Somehow I got the best sections on the route-pitches 6 and 9 per Supertopo (or 2 and 4 for us, iirc, thanks to double slings and a 70m rope). My pro and anchors were all solid, and I never felt the urge to panic-sew a crack. Of course most of my experience is at the Pinns and on Yosemite "sport" climbs, so I'm pretty comfortable on rock of dubious security and long run-outs on easy terrain.

Thanks for sharing! Heading out also in a few weeks. Is there any gear that would have been useful that you didn't have with you? Also, what would you recommend for approach shoes....simple shoes or mountaineering boots?

Thanks for sharing! Heading out also in a few weeks. Is there any gear that would have been useful that you didn't have with you? Also, what would you recommend for approach shoes....simple shoes or mountaineering boots?

Your pics and post very much appreciated!

Brad

I just wore my trailrunners for the hike and approach until I decided I would rather have something stickier (about halfway up the 4th class section). Our rack was BD cams .4-3, DMM Wallnuts 1-11, DMM offsets 7-11 and WC hexes 6-8, which we felt was perfect-even with our longer pitches (we did it in either 8 or 10, don't remember) that's plenty to protect the harder sections and build bomber anchors as long as you don't get too gear happy on the easier stuff.

Biggest piece of advice-STUDY THE DESCENT INFO! And if it looks like it's going to get dark wait 'til the next day to retrieve your axes (assuming you even need to bring them). Don't do like I did and almost end up having to spend a night on the Mt. Alice moraine to avoid landsliding yourself to death (literally the most scared for my life I've ever been).

Have fun! It's an amazing climb in an amazing setting.

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